Rams need help up front, especially at the guard position. A massive prospect, Glenn started his senior season at left tackle. At the next level, he might be better suited as a right tackle or as a guard. He enjoyed an extremely prolific senior season, rounding out as a complete blocker. Scouts have said teams are concerned about his motivation to work. Not as aggressive on the field as you’d expect.

A good case study in risk/reward drafting, Adams has the ability to be an elite pass protector at the next level. But questions about his work ethic and character could drop him on many teams’ boards. Adams was suspended five games in 2011 for trading memorabilia for tattoos. Was also found with drug paraphernalia during a traffic stop in 2009, but was never charged. He certainly has first-round talent; the question is whether a team falls in love with him early on.

Had a great combine. Martin, was described by his coach, UM Brady Hoke: “He’s been blessed with a first step and quickness, he’s not shy. He’ll be physical and so I think he’s got great leverage, can bend and has explosion.”

Martin really looks up to Suh “I watch film on him quite a bit, his motor, that’s really important for defensive linemen and he’s the best at what he does,” Martin said.

He even worked at Suh’s camp.

“That was a lot of fun, the way I got connected to that is through a friend of his, and I met his sister and we talked over Twitter and email, she told me to show up to the camp, help out, and then Ndamukong and I talked after, he said he’s coming to the Nebraska game at Ann Arbor, so there was a little fun smack talk there. And he gave me a few pointers and tips; which is nice,” Martin said about the experience.

Being at UM, which is just outside of Detroit gives Martin a chance to watch Suh regularly; and numerous chances to further model his game after him.

By putting up the best vertical and broad jump of any running back in Indy, supplemented by his very impressive showing in the catching drills and 40 yard dash, Wilson might be the second back taken after Alabama’s Trent Richardson, who wisely didn’t run in Indianapolis. According to Walter Football.com Wilson, “reportedly was the only prospect to show up in a suit (Armani, to boot) to all of his meetings, while most of his peers wore sweats. He was a professional both on and off the field this weekend.”

Cleveland needs an offensive skill position overhaul, and it continues at the receiver position in round 2.

38. Jacksonville, Alshon Jeffrey, WR, South Carolina

Has ideal size, but combine showing didn’t help. All these rumors about his weight, and he showed up in Indy pretty light. Still there’s a ton of questions he needs to answer, and his pro day better solve those queries for professional scouts.

39. St. Louis, Kendall Reyes, DT, Connecticut

40. Carolina, Mychal Kendricks, DE/DT, California

The Pac-12 Defensive player of the year had a great vertical leap and broad jump. And he ran the fastest forty (4.41) of any linebacker in 12 years. Kendricks is short for the position, and might have problems diagnosing plays in the NFL. Overcomes height issues by playing with extremely good leverage. Possibly the best cover linebacker in the draft

41. Buffalo, Alfonzo Dennard, CB, Nebraska

Alfonzo Dennard is a 5-foot-10, 205-pound senior from Rochelle, Ga who had 4 INTs and 7 PBUs last year. He returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown in the NU regular-season win at Washington. Dennard was good enough to consider jumping to the NFL last season, but obviously elected to return.

He was a first-team All-Big 12 selection last season despite being overshadowed by New York Giants first-round draft pick and teammate Prince Amukamara.

Marvin McNutt, Jr. set the school record for career touchdown receptions with an 80-yarder on Saturday. He added two more scoring receptions in the second period, giving him 24 for his career; breaking the previous mark of 21, held by former San Diego Charger Tim Dwight (1994-97) and Danan Hughes (1989-92).

McNutt, Jr., who hails from St. Louis, led Iowa receivers with six receptions for 184 yards and three touchdowns. The receiving yards and touchdown receptions were career bests. McNutt is kind of like former West Virginia Mountaineers college basketball star Kevin Pittsnogle- a college star who has a small cult following; partially because of his unique name.

Besides being one of the best interviews in college football, the Wisconsin BadgersAaron Henry is also a talented prospect at the safety position.

The senior Henry will enter the NFLDraft this spring and as of now ranks as a top-five safety. With a strong showing prior to the draft, he could go as high as the second round, but shouldn’t go any lower than the third or fourth round.The biggest knack on Henry is his tackling. He’s been known to whiff on defenders from time-to-time and doesn’t have the large body-size to to take down big receivers with ease. He’s not a horrible tackler, but it’s not his strong suit.

“Possesses a good first step, a natural feel between the tackles and exhibits the cut back ability to slice his way up the field. … isn’t a guy who is going to make a ton of NFL defenders miss or break many tackles inside.”

“You can practice as much as you want, but until you get in that game and bullets are flying, you can’t get that experience any other way. Game reps is the best experience you can get. After you go out there the first time, every time after that is just another day at the office,” he said.

Brewster is a 6-5, 293 Junior from Orlando, FL with three years of starting experience. He’s a NFL ready talent, but it’s difficult to predict where centers will get taken on draft day. The best at the position don’t often get picked until the third round at the earliest. Therefore “Brewster’s Millions” (yeah, you knew it was coming, an ’80s pop culture reference, I just couldn’t past that up) will likely have to wait to 2012. I doubt he’ll forgo his senior season.

47. New York Jets, Chandler Jones, DE/OLB, Syracuse
The Jets need a ton of help in their pass rush. They’ve suffered some injuries at the Rush Linebacker position making the need even stronger. Whether it comes from a hand-in-the-ground-guy or the standup position, they need to generate some pressure on the outside in the front seven someway somehow.

Jones needs to add weight, but he has tremendous upside. Extremely athletic and fast, he has the frame to get as big as 275 pounds. Injuries cost him five games last season, but with a good training staff and strength coach, he could become a great player.

“Ray Lewis, I just like his style of play and the type of motivator he is. I try to copy him as much as I can, but at the same time do my style, stuff he can do I can’t do and stuff I can do he can’t do. So I just take bits and pieces of that.” David said.

A bit undersized, he will fit in best in a Tampa 2 style defense, where his speed can be utilized.

Antonio Gates is getting up there in age; time to consider his replacement. And they definitely need pass-catchers to replace the departed Vincent Jackson. Didn’t run in the combine, so you’d call it a hold in his draft stock price, but it actually increased because the other top tight ends ran the drills and hurt their stock. He’s like Mitt Romney in the GOP primaries, all you got to do is keep quiet, let all the freak shows shoot their mouths off and you improve yourself by not doing anything.

An OG prospect who’s long arm length and bench press reps propelled him from obscurity to a second day guy. Played at left tackle for the Cyclones, but will make the move to guard in the NFL. Had a great 40 time at the Combine and has extremely long arms for his build. Already has impressive strength and should be even tougher working on the inside. A better pass protector than run blocker at this point. Can take plays off at times and needs to improve his conditioning

51. Philadelphia,Alameda Ta’amu, NT, Washington

Going value here. And speaking of Philly based establishments, I turn the description over to our friends at Walter Football:

Ta’amu remains one of the better nose tackles in the draft class, and he is perfect to play the nose in a 3-4 defense (plus remains one of the few genuine candidates available). At the Senior Bowl, Ta’amu was inconsistent from play to play and practice to practice. There were times when he overwhelmed linemen and other times when he looked lost.

Ta’amu was a tough run stuffer as a junior in 2010. He recorded 39 tackles with five tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks. In his second year as a starter, Ta’amu was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention. Usually, he is a powerful force at the point of attack who is nearly impossible to move.

Josh Chapman served as the backup to All-American Terrence Cody during the 2008 and 2009 seasons, and is currently regarded as one of the better nose guard prospects in his class. Chapman talked about how well and how seriously they take stopping the run.

“That’s about being physical up front and basically establishing a new line of scrimmage. And our guys go out and compete every day and want to stop the run. That’s our main goal here, make the team one dimensional,” Chapman said.

The Lions taking a RB in the second round for the second consecutive year? Are you serious? Yes, as Detroit found themselves as potential buyers on the RB free agent market down the stretch of last season. They lost Mikel Leshoure in the preseason, and Jahvid Best in midseason, so they know too well about what kind of depth you need at tailback in this league. And Leshoure just had his second run-in with the law, so you don’t want to take that situation for granted either .

James is averaging a national best 149.6 yards on the ground while running for 1,646 yards; 4th in the country. Despite missing two games with a dislocated elbow.

He’s the school’s all-time leading rusher; just 77 yards shy of 5,000. Just don’t confuse with LeGarrette Blount, which is surprisingly easier to do than you think. James took over for the now Tampa Bay Buccaneers tailback at Oregon when Blount was suspended for his involvement in that brawl in 2009.

Zeitler figures to be a 2-4 round prospect and his considered a tremendous talent. He’s leaner and meaner than many o-linemen. Often you see some chub sticking out when it comes to the big guys up front, you don’t see any of that with Zeitler. Another road grader from Wisconsin, Zeitler has made giant strides during his career. Actually lost his starting spot in the 2010 training camp because of injury, but worked hard in the weight room and won it back by the start of the conference season. Will not win every quick-twitch battle, but is hard to lose when he’s engaged in a block. Needs to work on leverage and keeping a good knee bend, but is rarely pushed off his blocking point.

Coming out of high school, he was ranked the third-best player in Wisconsin and No. 39 offensive lineman in the nation by Rivals.com, fourth-best player in the state and 22nd-best offensive lineman in the nation by Scout.com

The big OT put up good numbers on the bench press and the 40, and resurrected his draft stock. The Illini OL just fell off the map in the second half of the 2011 season, and Allen was one of their leaders, so some of that falls on him. But individually he is finding his groove and could be a round 2-4 pick.

Has an average build and strength for the position. Was very productive in his final two years with the Illini. Much more developed as a pass blocker at this point. Allen has a good initial surge in the run game, but will not always finish the block. He would not be characterized as a mauler, and will fit best in a zone-blocking scheme.

An insurance policy for Arian Foster, who will make more in the first game than he made all last season

59. New Orleans, Chase Minnifield, CB, Virginia

An underrated player who plays well in man coverage. Has a good understanding of the game and used film study to his advantage at Virginia. His father was a Pro Bowl corner for the Browns. Needs to bulk up, especially in his lower half. Minnifield is at his best when covering the slot

Why hasn’t the addition of Anquan Boldin made the Ravens a passing juggernaut? Is Joe Flacco just that “game-managerish” and nothing more. Maybe they need another vertical piece. Jenkins ran a 4.39 40-yard dash, the 4th fastest among all WRs. Now a 4-5 rounder becomes possibly a mid-late second rounder. Had a MONSTER first half of 2012, but kind of disappeared in the second half. The question is, how much of that drop in production was his own fault vs. how much was due to the regression of his quarterback/the fact that he was his team’s only decent receiver?

Yes, he’s like 75 years old we know. Ok so Weeden is in his late 20s, but no one is really looking at him as a starting QB prospect, only back-up. And he could make a good insurance policy for Alex Smith.

The Patriots put together some decent make-shift pieces in their d line last year, to make their pass rush at least serviceable, but those pieces aren’t guaranteed to stay in place this offseason. And again, when you have the second to worst pass defense in the NFL, try to get as much help as possible for those over-matched DBs.

I mean Julian Edelman is “defending” Anquan Boldin in the AFC Title game?? WTF??!!!

Jared Crick has really torn up opposing offenses in his three years with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Ndamukong Suh’s alma mater. Crick is a dominating player in his own right; but he’s not like Suh. Infractions aside, Suh is a beast among beasts, and the search is on for NFL teams to find the next game-changing DL in his mold. Crick’s name comes up often in this specific discussion because well obviously he played with Suh and wears the same uniform. But Crick has his own legacy to build.

“Suh and I are completely different people, completely different players,” Crick said when asked about how the media is quick to label him the next Suh.

“People just kind of see defensive tackle at Nebraska and think oh he must be like Suh, but I’m really not. He’s a great player, but our games are not alike in any fashion. We’re great friends, but we have completely different games,” he continued.

Getting more specific:

“We have different personalities, Suh is at the big time now, but we’re both humble guys. So that’s a similarity. But when we were playing together, he was more the bigger, stronger guy, more the anchor guy, and I was the quicker guy who would have to beat the 1-on-1 in order for the defensive line to succeed, and that’s still true now,” Jared said. For more on Crick go here

Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports

A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB)You should too.

Stephen Kelly contributed to this mock. Kelley is a contributor at The Sports Bank where he covers Fantasy Sports and Pro Drafts. You can follow him on Twitter @stephen_tsb.

Comments

Don’t like either of your Niner picks…first of all, CB isn’t a big need. Not with Rogers, Brown, Culliver, Cox, Brock, et al. I’d be amazed if they don’t take Fleener or another offensive stud. Same thing in 2nd rd…they have Alex Smith, Josh Johnson, Kaepernick and Scott Tolzien at QB. They need Weeden like a hole in the head. Instead, I’d say OG…they do need to strengthen the RG position now that Snyder’s signed w/Cards.